Christmas Surprise
by Novalion
Summary: Christmas at Castle Koopa was usually the same as it always was every year. One unexpected gesture changes that.


**A/N: Let's celebrate the festive spirit!**

* * *

><p>As Ludwig Von Koopa stood precariously over his ensuite counter and commenced an epic battle to rid himself of his bed hair, he came to realise something. Though it had been at the forefront of everyone's mind for the past month, he had processed it with the absent-mindedness of a child. But now the whole thing had struck him hard.<p>

It was Christmas.

He often wondered how or why they would celebrate such an occasion, but then again why did they celebrate every human holiday? For the fun of it?

Ludwig shrugged and raked down the left parting of his hair forcefully; it was probably that. There was nothing wrong with a bit of a vacation and it was a special time nonetheless. He had fond memories of it after all. Maybe he was becoming that one cynical adult. "Bah, humbug." He said jokingly to himself in the mirror, his reflection returning his magnificent, if not a bit sleepy smile. Good memories of King Dad reading him that story the night before Christmas.

From the outside, it was a normal day in the Dark Lands. It looked the same as it normally was; full of ash and lava. But inside the grand and 'awesome' Castle Koopa lay before those who witnessed it a completely different persona. It was still the same with the benevolent and intimidating interior, but cheery and festive decorations were mounted on every frame, wall and outcropping.

Age had dulled Ludwig of his Christmas feeling and excitement and he felt himself growing less and less enthusiastic with each iteration of the holiday. The only thing that really cheered him up was the time spent with family. It was strange how everyone acted very different on this day. But in the end of it all, it was a pleasant conclusion to a very awful year.

And of course, presents.

No matter how old you got, recieving presents was the best thing you could experience.

Hopefully soon, Ludwig would experience that.

As he set down his comb and checked to make sure he was looking presentable, a violent knocking on his bedroom door echoed loudly. Before he could answer though, Lemmy burst in with the energy of twenty-thousand Bullet Bills.

"Ludwig, get up! It's Christmuh...?" He stopped short when he saw that Ludwig was not present in bed like he had expected.

"In here." Ludwig deadpanned, now proceeding to brush his teeth. Lemmy hopped into the ensuite excitedly and hoisted himself up onto the counter.

"Gosh Ludwig!" He exclaimed happily. "I can't believe it's Christmas already! Can you?!"

Ludwig could only mumble through a mouthful of hot drumstick toothpaste, and simply gave a shrug.

"Oh I know how grumpy you are now Luddy, but I know deep down inside you're just bursting with excitement! I mean, come on, presents! I can't wait to see what you've gotten me!"

And Ludwig was certainly curious to see what he would recieve in return from him.

"You know I asked King Dad for that unicycle and he said, 'No way Lemmy you'd bust your head open' but I think he was just joking!"

Ludwig rinsed his mouth. "Remember when you started to learn to balance on your circus balls, Lemmy?" He said. "I think King Dad has a good reason to deny that request."

"Ah come on!" Lemmy dismissed it with a wave of his hand. "I only busted my head open once during that!"

"And Iggy's too... oh, and Larry's..."

"Well, they're not going to ride my unicycle, are they?"

Ludwig left the ensuite. "I certainly hope not."

Lemmy watched excitedly as he watched his older brother get dressed for the occasion - although he often voiced his displeasure of wearing warm winter wear in such hot temperatures, it felt like tradition and adhering to the festive feeling of the season. Lemmy himself was fine with it, no stranger to wearing outrageous clothes, and had burst into Ludwig's room decked out in his favourite knitted orange scarf. The whole Koopaling line had their own scarves made for them and Ludwig's was a deep blue with little stripes embroidered on it.

"When was the last time you wore that?" Lemmy asked curiously, his nose wrinkling at the slight scent of dust coming off Ludwig's scarf.

"I don't know," He said honestly, whipping it around his neck. "Since last Christmas?"

Lemmy just laughed at this and proceeded to hop joyfully out into the hallway, Ludwig in tow. The hallway was empty, save for another arrival; Iggy in his lime green scarf. He gave the eldest a short, stout nod as he joined him.

"Good morning to you, Ludwig." He greeted in a straightforward, yet still tired tone of voice. "I see that Lemmy had roused you from your sleep early too."

Ludwig laughed. "No, I was already up by then Ignatius. He burst in a bit too late."

Iggy grinned and let out a rare genuine and loving laugh as Lemmy suddenly leapt onto his back, hollering in absolute joy. "Lucky you." He said, although he wasn't really mad about it. After all, it was Christmas! No time for bad feelings or anything like that.

"I'm your alarm clock, guys!" Lemmy exclaimed. "Gotta make sure you're up on Christmas morning!"

As they proceeded down to the main hall, Ludwig laughing at the sight of his brothers tussling like a bunch of goofs he had to admit that Lemmy was right. He wouldn't miss out on this for the world.

* * *

><p>The atmosphere was electric as the last of the presents were given out in the main dining hall, being torn open and the recipients revelling in their newly found gifts. It was everything they had wanted for and beyond - their family and friends at Castle Koopa had not failed to deliver! It was obvious that each Koopaling wanted to head back to their individual rooms and play with their new toys, but for an insufferable moment they were interrupted.<p>

"I thought that was everyone..." King Bowser murmured to himself, scratching his chin in confusion at the sight before him - a large sack of presents, delivered just a minute ago by Kamek. Despite his insistence that the presents were not indeed traps, he still had suspicions about it. After all, it was the same amount each year. No one else sent them anything more, yet here was the contrary.

With a questioning gaze he looked over to the Koopalings, who just shrugged in response.

"Who do ya think it's from?" Larry asked curiously, balancing his new Koopabeach headphones on his neck.

Bowser folded his arms. "It didn't have a sender address."

"Ah, who cares!" Bowser Junior exclaimed. "Let's see what's in here!"

Although a paternal instinct would have compelled Bowser to pull his son away from the strange gift, he just stood close and took a chance as Junior disappeared inside, the sounds of wrapping paper the only thing that could be heard in the hall. To everyone's relief though, he suddenly quipped happily and appeared from the sack holding a present. "This one's for Larry!"

And now all eyes were on Larry - becoming very aware of this, he stepped forward with a myriad of gifts stocked up in his arms and took the present gingerly. It was definitely boxy, and felt a bit heavy. He frowned at this before looking to Bowser for reassurance.

"Open it." Was all he said. The little Koopaling tore at the paper, unsure of what to expect. Everyone else just watched with baited breath, until the tension was broken with Larry laughing happily.

"Check this out!" He exclaimed, holding up his gift - to Ludwig at least, it was just a black cube. But then Morton gave a slow whistle and looked closer.

"No way, Larry! That's a Limited Edition Koopitech Bass Cube! Those things are rare! Only several thousand of them were made and only a few hundred were distributed in the Dark Lands!"

"I know, right! Aw man, I always wanted one of these!"

Lemmy piped up. "Hey Larry, we should listen to some music on that later!"

"Heck yeah!" Larry said happily, giving his brother a thumbs up before turning back to Junior. "Who sent all these anyway?" He asked, still looking over his gift - still no sign of anything suspicious.

Bowser had watched over the whole thing with a skeptical expression, not sure what to really think of this - he had tried for ages to track down one of those! How did this mysterious sender find one? He was King of the Koopas, damn it and this stranger had delivered better gifts than him! Rage began to build up in his stomach, but then Junior's voice knocked him back down.

"Wendy!" He shouted, holding up a bright pink present.

With the assurance that Larry's gift wasn't a bomb, she quickly grabbed the present from Junior and tore it open immediately. With the expectations of some girly stuff at the front of everyone's minds, they became immediately confused when Wendy proceeded to hold up a pair of ice skating shoes.

"I've always wanted these!" She said happily. "To glide across the ice gracefully... finally! I'll have to book a vacation to Frosted Glacier immediately!"

Bowser just stared on dumbfounded, while Junior began to hand out presents to the rest of the Koopalings; Iggy was surprised to recieve a special magnification kit for his glasses (allowing to see things up close and in personal detail without the use of a microscope), Morton recieved a nice pair of shades and training gloves to help him endeavour further in his strength training, Roy getting a box of cologne (although he became indignant for a while thinking that meant that he smelled), Ludwig received a cleaning kit for his violin and Lemmy free lessons at clown school.

As they chattered happily about their new findings, it came down to Junior and the King himself. He gave his son a genuine smile as he was handed off a bulky gift. But he delayed his opening to watch Junior, who had gotten something very compact, yet was seemingly very heavy.

"Wow!" Junior said excitedly to himself as he looked over his gift - an easel! It came with a canvas and everything!

Bowser couldn't help but laugh. "Looks like you can actually do your art without demolishing one of the walls now!"

"Aw come on Dad, that was only that one time."

"I know, I'm just teasing you son."

Junior stuck his tongue out at his father, who just laughed at it. But then it came for him to open his present. With the eyes of his family watching him, Bowser ripped apart the soft tissue paper instantly and opened the box and what he saw genuinely surprised him. For Ludwig and indeed everyone else, it was a first time to see their King Dad show such an expression. They all watched in anticipation, until Bowser finally indulged their curious little minds and pulled out a spiked collar; identical to his usual one, except it was made out of twenty-carat gold.

Immediately an uproar of cheer and happiness erupted from the crowd as they suddenly got up to check out Bowser's gift - indeed, it was pure gold! Not even the King himself could believe it! It wasn't just the collar either - it came with the bracelets too!

Bowser chortled with his throaty laugh. "Oh man, am I going to look good!"

"You got that right, Pa!" Junior said happily, looking at the collar in amazement. "Who could do this?!"

"I have no idea."

Something caught his eye - there was a neatly folded piece of paper at the bottom of the box. Frowning, he let the Koopalings mill around the gold for a moment while he put the box down and read the letter. Only Ludwig was the only one who saw his King read the letter, watching his expression change from one of confusion to shock and then to amusement. And then he let out another laugh.

"King Dad, what's so funny?" Ludwig asked, head tilted.

But only Bowser did was hand the eldest the letter and folded his arms. "Read it." He said simply, and Ludwig obeyed.

'_Dear Bowser, King of the Koopas,_

_We've known each other for a long time and we have been through much, sometimes as allies, most times as enemies. You hate us for ruining your plans and we dislike you because you bring so much chaos. Funnily enough though, everywhere you go, we're always there, intentionally or not. But do not take this as a mocking on the most beloved of all seasons, Christmas. You might try to take over the Mushroom Kingdom, but we'll be there to make sure that you behave. In the meantime though, we hope that you and the Koopalings enjoy these presents that we all worked hard to track down and make. Because while you are our enemies and no doubt will be for the rest of our lives, we sincerely hope that you have a happy day and accept our gifts as a gesture of goodwill._

_From the desk of Princess Toadstool Peach & Mario and Luigi - The Mario Brothers (It's-a me!)._'

Everything was processed up to that point until Ludwig had read the signatures. It was evidently obvious in his face, because Bowser just laughed again and took the letter from his hands. "Of course they would." He said wryly, and Ludwig just shook his head.

"I don't understand."

"Me neither." Bowser admitted. "But in any case... Merry Christmas to those damn plumbers."

He had to hand it to the Mario Brothers - when they're not stomping you into the ground and destroying your livelihood piece by piece, they were _almost_ an alright pair.

Ludwig nodded at this and chuckled. "Yep... Merry Christmas to them."

* * *

><p>And Merry Christmas to you, lovely reader! Or if you don't celebrate Christmas, Happy Holidays! Well you get the gist hopefully.<p>

**All characters (C) Nintendo**


End file.
